Kyoto Prize laureates announced

Honoring those who have contributed greatly to the progress of science, the advancement of civilization, and the enrichment and elevation of the human spirit, the Inamori Foundation has announced laureates for the 2007 Kyoto Prize, presented annually in advanced technology, basic sciences, and a third category unrelated to physics.

The foundation, based in Kyoto, Japan, will hold an awards ceremony in November, where each laureate will receive a diploma, a Kyoto Prize medal of 20 karat gold, and a cash purse of ¥50 million ($405 000).

Receiving the prize in the advanced technology category, in the field of materials science and engineering, is Hiroo Inokuchi, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo and at the Institute for Molecular Science at the National Institutes of Natural Sciences in Okazaki, Japan. Inokuchi was honored for his “pioneering and fundamental contributions to organic molecular electronics,” the award citation said. According to the foundation, Inokuchi initiated important research on “electrical conduction between molecules with benzene rings and established the scientific foundation for studying the electrical conductivity of organic materials. Further, he systematically elucidated an electronic structure of a wide variety of organic materials by photoelectron spectroscopy. Through a series of such studies, he established the academic base essential for studying the electronic properties.”

In the basic sciences category, presented this year in the field of Earth and planetary sciences, astronomy, and astrophysics, Hiroo Kanamori, professor emeritus at Caltech, will receive the prize for “elucidation of physical processes of earthquakes and [their] application to hazard mitigation.” The foundation wrote that Kanamori made “epoch-making progress on the study of great earthquakes through the establishment of analytical methods to understand quantitatively … the rupture process of a great earthquake making full use of seismograms.”